Plastic bags are an example of a commonly employed container. Plastic bags are inexpensive and extremely convenient. They can be stored in large quantities in a relatively small space, and can be used to hold or carry a significant volume of material.
Large plastic bags are often used for a variety of articles, including garbage, recycling, lawn clippings, leaves, and linens. Whatever the purpose, when the bag is in use it is necessary to have the opening of the bag retained in a substantially open position so that articles can be put into, or removed from the bag. Anyone who has performed lawn care will recall the frustration of trying to keep the bag open while also trying to push leaves or lawn clippings into the bag.
It is therefore known to provide apparatuses that will hold the bag, and hold the bag in the open position so that a person can deposit articles into the bag without having to hold the bag open by him. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,667 to Olsen discloses a trash bag holding and spreading device in the form of a unitary one-piece holder. The holder includes a pair of retainer halves, each of which has a respective internal face, a first adjoining edge that adjoin one another and a second remote edge. The holder can be used to both carry the bag and to hang the bag. The holder in Olsen, however, employs a complex set of retaining clips and tabs that are used to pinch the bag. This results in complex construction and, perhaps more significantly, a relatively small portion of the surface area of the bag is held within the clips and tabs, which could limit the amount of weight that the bag holder can maintain without resulting in tearing to the bag itself. Also such retaining clips and tabs are, over time, subject to wear and tear and breakage.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,998, 694 to Barteaux discloses a bag holder for supporting a conventional plastic grocery bag in an open position for use as a waste receptacle. Barteaux is thus limited to grocery bags and is not generally suitable for other types of bags such as garbage bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,249 to Edwards discloses a trash bag holding device for holding a spreading the open end of a thin walled plastic trash bag that includes a pair of cooperating elongated spreader bar members one of which is adapted to be mounted on a supporting wall in outwardly spaced parallel relation to the wall and other of which is adapted to be releasably mounted to the first. Edwards has similar limitations to Olson, in that complex moulds are required to manufacture the device, and the clamping mechanism only retains a relatively small surface area of the bag. Also, the means of attaching the spread bar members to each other also involves detents and tabs so that the members can be snapped together. Edwards can thus be difficult to operate, and/or could result in breakage of the spreader bar members over time. Similar problems can be found the holders described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,077 to Grant, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,422 to Hobbs.